Etimology
From Middle English kychyn, kytchen, kichene, küchen, from Old English cyċen, cyċene, from Proto-West Germanic *kukinā, a borrowing from Late Latin cocīna, from earlier coquīna (“kitchen; cuisine”), from coquō (“to cook”), from Proto-Indo-European *pekʷ- (“to cook, become ripe”). In other languages, the cognate term often refers both to the room and the type of cooking. In English, the distinction is generally made via the etymological twins kitchen (“room”) (Latin via Germanic) and cuisine (“type of cooking”) (Latin via French).
noun
kitchen (plural kitchens)
A room or area for preparing food.
(by extension) Cuisine; style of cooking.
(chiefly African-American Vernacular) The nape of a person's hairline, often referring to its uncombed or "nappy" look.
(music) The percussion section of an orchestra.
(dated) A utensil for roasting meat.
(attributive) A domesticated or uneducated form of a language.
(slang) A public gaming room in a casino.
(obsolete) Anything eaten as a relish with bread, potatoes, etc.; a condiment.
The region of a billiard table between the head rail and the head string.
Examples
We cook in the kitchen.
Everything a living animal could do to destroy and to desecrate bed and walls had been done. […] A canister of flour from the kitchen had been thrown at the looking-glass and lay like trampled snow over the remains of a decent blue suit with the lining ripped out which lay on top of the ruin of a plastic wardrobe.
I always leave the stuff piled up, piled up in the sink / But you will always find him in the kitchen at parties
I had been trained with the rigidity and discipline of the French kitchen, and now I was embracing American informality.
My palate passionately lies in the savory kitchen with its salty fats and infernal flavors of chilies and spices.
Kline wrote that, according to various recent surveys, the young Israeli-born generation generally preferred a Mediterranean diet and dishes from the “Oriental” kitchen.
Named for the La Merced monastery, which was built in 1594 and on whose grounds the market is now located, it is just east of Mexico City's famed Zócalo plaza and is a must-visit for anyone wanting to experience the many delectable specialties of the Mexican kitchen.
For obvious reasons the percussion is normally arranged along the back of the platform, whether centrally or to one side, and sometimes also in two tiers, the heavy, noisier instruments behind, and the pitched, agile instruments such as vibraphone, marimba, etc. in front. An outstanding exception, however, exists in Roberto Gerhard's Epithalamion where the composer expressly desired that the all-important kitchen department be spread out in front of the strings and hence nearest the audience.
There are two modes of roasting: One is to use a tin kitchen before an open fire, and the other, and more common way, is to use a hot oven.
Sir Henry and Umbopo sat conversing in a mixture of broken English and kitchen Zulu, in low voices, but earnestly enough.
Having done what was required to gain admittance to the "kitchen," as the public rooms are termed, as well as to the more exclusive "Salle Privée" […]
But on this June evening when Bond walked through the 'kitchen' into the salle privée, it was with a sensation of confidence and cheerful anticipation that he changed a million francs into plaques of fifty mille and took a seat […]
“They,” said he, meaning the collops, “are such as I gave his Royal Highness in this very house; bating the lemon juice, for at that time we were glad to get the meat and never fashed for kitchen. Indeed, there were mair dragoons than lemons in my country in the year forty-six.”
verb
kitchen (third-person singular simple present kitchens, present participle kitchening, simple past and past participle kitchened)
To do kitchen work; to prepare food.
To embellish a basic food; to season, add condiments, etc.
(by extension) To embellish; to dress up.
Examples
A dress scarcely suited to woodland kitchening was defended by an apron borrowed from the maid.
"...May I ? " added the speaker, and forthwith took his answer from his master's smile ; "may I respectfully see what the old one has kitchened for you when I was not there ? "
Instinctively they moved toward community canning, community baking, community kitchening on the grand scale to release energy for other war exigencies.
From somewhere through the series of connecting rooms she smelled food, the stabbing odor of onions cooking, a distantly familiar spice, heard the clatter of women kitchening.
I have found it so, for whenever I saw the meal and potatoes running low, I spared them, and kitchened them all I could, and never was run out of them till the new came in.
I "kitchened" my loaf, as they say in Scotland, with a pennyworth of butter, and occasionally with lettuce or a few radishes in their season ; and the beverage with which I regaled myself, after my meals, was a glass of water from the nearest pump.
The green hill slopes are dotted over with sheep and lambs nibbling away at their morning meal, kitchened with blabs of sparkling dew, and higher up the mountain side we hear the " cootie moorcock's coothy craw."
This was seasoned with salt and sometimes kitchened with butter.
His Maker has not so endowed him as to lay him under the necessity of kitchening, so to speak, a slender share of talent, and, by rigid economy, make it go as far as possible.
But as in his novels and other work there is a 'kitchening' of the material, a tentativeness.